Bayonet joint.



W. O. BARNES.

BAYONET JOINT.

APPLICATION TILED 11113.4, 190a.

1,002,1 15, Patented Aug. 29, 1911.

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UNTTED STATES PATENT OFFTCE.

WILLIAM O. BARNES, OF QUEBEC, QUEBEC, CANADA.

BAYONET-J'OINT.

To all whom 'it may concern.

Be it known that I, VVILLIAM O. BARNES, a citizen of the United States,and resident of Quebec, in the Province of Quebec and Dominion ofCanada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bayonet-Joints, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactspecification.

This invention relates to improvements in bayonet joints for attachingbayonets in a fixed position for service upon the end of, and preferablybeneath, the barrel of a rifie or other firearm.

The objects of this invention are in general to provide a joint whichsecurely holds the bayonet in its seat upon, and in the desired relationto, the end of the rifie or other firearm; to enable the bayonet to beeasily and quickly attached in place in the desired alinement orparallelism or other desired relation to the barrel, and to be asreadily removed therefrom even though the parts may have become rustedor clogged with dirt; to make the parts of simple construction so thatthey can be manufactured at a low cost, and may be used interchangeablywith each other and with the firearm upon which they are to be used; andto make the attaching joints of such a character that they will take upwhatever looseness may be due to variations in manufacture or to wear,so as to insure snug fitting of the bayonet and avoid rattling of thejoints.

My preferred embodiment of this invention is illustrated in theaccompanying sheet of drawings, in which- Figure l is a side "iewshowing the front end of a rifle barrel and the rearward end of abayonet connected together. Fig. 2 is a front view projected from theright hand end of Fig. 1, showing mainly the blade of the bayonet andthe guard or cross piece thereof. Fig. 3 is a plan view in section takenon the line 33 of Fig. 1. Figs. 4 and 5 are enlarged views showingdetails of the connection between the cross piece of the bayonet and theend of the barrel. Fig. 4: is a. side view in section taken on the lineH of Fig. 5; and Fig. 5 is an end view in section taken on the line 55of Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is an end view in section taken on the line 6 ofFig. 1. Fig. 7 is a similar end view taken on the line 77 of Fig. 1.Fig. 8 is a side view in section, similar to that of Fig. 1, showing amodified arrangement of the rearward joint.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 4, 1908.

Patented Aug. 29, 1911.

Serial No. 419,123.

Fig. 9 is a plan View, and Fig. 10 a side view of the spring preferablyemployed in connection with the rearward joint between the bayonet andthe firearm.

In the embodiment shown in the drawings, the barrel 10 is provided witha front sight 11, and with a front band 12 for securing forestock 13 tothe barrel. These parts are, or may be, of any ordinary or convenientconstruction.

The bayonet is attached to the barrel at two points at a substantialdistance apart, so as togive an extended base of support to the bayonetto fix it firmly in position. The front attachment is therein shown tobe made by the guard or cross-piece 16 forming an extension of thebayonet guard, which is provided with an aperture for receiving the endof the barrel or any suitable stud on the firearm. The rear attachmentis preferably made between the pommel end of the hilt and the front band12, the latter being in the present instance provided with a T-shapedknob 18, which engages with a T-slot in the pommel 19 of the bayonet.

For various practical reasons it is desirable to have the joints, bywhich the bayonet is attached to the firearm, fit closely together atthe attached position, so as to have a firm connection; and also toavoid rattling noises. On the other hand, it is desirable to make thesejoints so that the bayonets can be quickly and surely attached,particularly in cases of emergency, when in haste, and in the dark. Ifthe joints, which may be designated as slip joints, were made to fitclosely throughout their sliding contact, they would be diflicult toenter, and would be liable to cramp in moving them to their fixedposition. On account of the difficulty of entering the two separatejoints at the same time, the rearward joint is made longer than theother, and the bayonet is first attached at this joint, the members ofwhich are slid together until the members of the other joint meet andinterlap. During this initial sliding movement of the members of thefirst or rearward joint, before they are guided and steadied by theunion of the second or front joint, the bayonet should be free to rockconsiderably upon the rearward joint so as to avoid cramping therein,due to unskilful or unsteady manipulation, in the dark, or by anunskilled recruit. These desirable objects are attained in the presentinvention. The rearward joint fits closely only at those portions of thejoint surfaces which are in contact when the bayonet is fully seated,these surfaces being herein designated as a contact seat at and adjacentto the line aa of Fig. 1. The surfaces of one or both of the jointmembers adjacent to their contact seat are rounded or otherwiserelieved, thus allowing the bayonet to rock freely in this joint in alateral direction until the second or front joint is made, which bringsthe bayonet into proper alinement or parallelism with the barrel,whereupon the members of the rearward joint are brought to their closefitting position. This arrangement prevents the bayonet from catching orcramping at its rearward end during the act of attaching it to the gun,and avoids the necessity of guiding the front end of the bayonet in anyexact re lation up to the time that the second joint is made. It alsoenables the two parts to be joined firmly together, in spite ofvariations that may occur in the manufacture of the parts. The surfacesof the T-slot are inclined or flared at their rearward ends, so as toafford a wide entrance for the knob.

In the arrangement shown in Figs. 1 to 7 inclusive, the joint is made bythe flanges 22 of the T slot projecting inwardly toward each other intothe neck portion of the knob 18, and between the under side of that knoband the surface 24: of the front band 12. The final or contact seat ofthe joint is at or adjacent to the plane indicated by the line aa inFig.1, at which plane the flanges 22 closely fill the space between the headof the knob and the surface 241. The upper and lower surfaces of theflanges 22 are relieved bot-h forwardly and rearwardly from the contactseat to permit the desired rocking movement of the joint. The flanges 22taper from the contact seat toward their rearward ends 25, thus enablingthese ends to enter the neck of the knob freely in the operation ofattaching the bayonet. The bottom surface 26 of the T-slot in the pommelis also inclined downwardly, so that both the upper and lower surfacesof this portion of the T- slot are flared to permit the easy entrance ofthe head of the knob into the rearward end of the T-slot.

In the embodiment of the invention herein shown the front joint is madebetween the guard or cross-piece 16 of the bayonet and the end of thebarrel or muzzle, although that joint, or a similar joint, could be madebetween any suitable members or appurtenances of the bayonet and thebarrel. The upper end of the cross-piece 16 is bored at 29 to receivethe end of the muzzle as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and to flt with areasonable degree of closeness, which, however, depends portion 35 ofthe spring.

upon the limits of variation recognized or allowed in the manufacture ofthe parts, this variation differing with different manufac turers,according to the skill of their workmen, or their other facilities fordoing close work. Even in the best practice it is, however, considerednecessary to provide for variations of some degree; hence the crosspieceis bored to the largest limit size of the barrels, and means areprovided for taking up the looseness in the varying degrees of smallersizes, so as to avoid in all of them the liability of rattling. In thepresent instance this is provided for by making an annular recess 28 inthe bore 29 of the cross-piece, and placing in that recess a ring orband-shaped spring 30, the form and disposition of which is best shownin large scale in Figs. 4 and 5. The circle of the spring 30 ispreferably larger than the circle of the bore 29, so that that spring,or at least the edge portions thereof, lie outside of that circle ofthat bore to avoid presenting abrupt shoulders to the entrance of thebarrel. Those portions of the spring which are to contact with thebarrel are bent inwardly so as to form crimps 81 in the spring at aboutthe middle of its width, as shown in Fig. 4:. Only one of these crimpsis herein shown, but their number is immaterial and depends upon thesize of the barrel and whether it is round, octagonal, hexagonal, etc,it being considered generally advisable to hold the barrel at threepoints disposed about equally around its perimeter, one of which pointsof contact may be directly between the barrel and the one side of thebore 29. These crimps present inclined faces to the entering edges ofthe barrel.

What has herein been said about the de sirability of providing forvariations in the practical manufacture of firearms, applies also to therearward joint, and provision is also there made for taking up whateverlooseness may result from such variations or from the wear of the parts.In that case a spring 33 is seated in the pommel of the bayonet and heldby means of a pin 3%. The pin is preferably provided with an annulargroove at about the middle of its length, in approximate conformity withthe width and thickness of the spring 33 at that point, as shown inFigs. 1, 3 and 6, the corresponding portion of the spring being bentaround the pin, so as to flt in the annular groove of the pin andbetween the shoulders thereof. Thus the pin holds the spring in positionand is itself held by the spring against endwise movement. The center ofthe hole for the pin 34 is drilled approximately in the plane of thesurface 26 of the T-slot, so that the. half circle of the pin 3% isbelow the plane of the surface 26, that surface being recessed toreceive the downwardly curved That recess is made deep enough to allowthe said curved portion 35 of the spring to be sprung down while drivingthe pin 34: through to its place, so as to allow the enlarged end of thepin to pass over the spring. One of the ends of the pin may be largerthan the other, as shown in Fig. (3, and in other ways may be adapted tofacilitate the assembling and disassembling of the parts. That portion36 of the spring 33 which bears against the knob 18 is preferably cuppedas shown in Fig. 10, and split, as shown at 37 in Fig. 9, so as to forma resilient yet sufficiently stiff seat between the knob 18 and thebottom surface 26 of the T-slot when the knob is at itsattachingposition shown in Fig. 1. The intermediate portion 38 of thespring is preferably inclined so as to impose a resilient resistance tothe entrance of the knob, and give a feeling of firmness in theoperation of fixing the bayonet.

As a means for latching the bayonet endwise in position, I have hereinshown a well known form of latching bolt, consisting of a spring bolt40, which passes transversely through the pommel below the T-slot. Theenlarged head ll of the bolt projects upwardly into the path of movementof the knob, and locks behind the knob, as shown in Figs. 3, 7 and 8,when the bayonet is seated in place. The forward end of the knob isrounded or beveled, as shown at t2, and the head of the bolt may also bebevee or rounded, as shown at 43 in Figs. 1 and 3 to enable the head topush the bolt back automatically as the knob enters the rearward end ofthe T-slot. The bolt is yieldingly held to its locking position by meansof a spring stat, which is seated in a counterbored portion of thepommel, beneath the screw cap &5, which serves as a convenient button bymeans of which the bolt may be retracted by the thumb or finger of thesoldier, when attaching the bayonet to or detaching it from the firearm;This locking mechanism, however, is of well-known construction, andforms no part of the present invention. If such a latch bolt is used aportion of the spring 33 should be cut away as shown at 39 in Fig. 9, toclear the head of the bolt.

Various modifications may be made in these parts for securing theobjects and ends described. One of these modifications is shown in Fig.8, in which the flanges 47 are made parallel instead of tapering, theupper side 48 of the knob 49 being rounded to permit the desired rockingmovement and also to facilitate the easy entrance of the knob betweenthe underside of the flange 47 and the top surface of the spring 33, theconstruction and operation of which are like those of the previousfigures. Obviously also the spring 33 may be omittedfrom this and any ofthe other forms shown, and the seating contact be made between the topand bottom surfaces of the T-slot and the upper and lower sides of thehead, those sidesof the head being rounded as shown by the rounded side48 in Fig. 8- to permit of the required rocking movement; or the undersurface 24L of the band shown in Fig. 1 may be rounded like the undersurfaces of the flanges 22 in Fig. 1. The underside of the knob may berounded as shown in Fig. 8, either with tapering flanges 35, as shown inFig. l, or with those flanges made substantially parallel as in Fig. 8.In many such ways which will be apparent to those skilled in this art,the details of the invention may be reversed, transposed, or other- Wisemodified to suit different conditions of manufacture or use, or to suitthe preferences of purchasers.

I claim as my invention 1. Means for attaching bayonets to firearms,comprising a knob appurtenant to one of said members, and flangesappurtenant to the other member for receiving the said knob betweenthem, one of the contact surfaces between the knob and the said flangesbeing rounded or inclined to facilitate the entrance of the knob andpermit correct alinement and seating of the bayonet in attaching it tothe firearm.

2. Means for attaching bayonets to firearms, comprising a knobappurtenant to the firearm, flanges appurtenant to the bayonet forreceiving the knob between them with the head of the knob projectingbeneath the flanges, the contacting surfaces of the flange and the knobat the seating position of the knob forming a joint fitting more closelythan elsewhere, to permit rocking movement of the bayonet relative tothe firearm, to facilitate attachment in correct relative position andalinement.

3. Means for attaching bayonets to firearms, comprising a knobappurtenant to the firearm, flanges appurtenant to the bayonet forreceiving the knob between them with the head of the knob projectingbeneath the said flanges, the upper and lower surfaces of said flangesbeing adapted to fit the knob closely at its seating position, and beinginclined or relieved from the said seating position toward the ends ofthe flanges to facilitate the entrance of the knob and permit properpositioning of the bayonet relative to the firearm.

4. Means for attaching bayonets to firearms, comprising a knobappurtenant to the firearm, flanges appurtenant to the bayonet, forminga joint with the knob, having a rounded seat to permit rocking movementof the bayonet thereon, to facilitate the attaching of the bayonet, thelatter being also provided with a second attaching member for engagingwith the firearm.

5. A bayonet provided with means for detachably securing the bayonet tofirearms, and a spring appurtenant to one of the joint members, andbearing against the other joint member for taking up the looseness ofthe joint.

6. A bayonet and firearm provided with a joint for detachably connectingthem together, and a spring appurtenant to the bayonet, and forming oneof the surfaces of the joint for taking up the looseness of the saidjoint.

7. A bayonet and firearm provided with a plurality of detachable jointsfor connecting them together, each of said joints being provided with aresilient member forming part of the joint surface for taking up thelooseness and wear of the said joints.

8. A bayonet and firearm provided with slip joints for detachablyconnecting them together, one of said joints being provided with aspring, forming one of the joint surfaces, the said spring beingdetachably held in position adjacent to its joint.

9. The combination, with a bayonet pro vided with a slip joint, of aspring forming one of the bearing surfaces of the said joint, and meansfor detachably securing the spring in position adjacent to the saidjoint, comprising a pin seated in the said bayonet, the spring beingbent partway around the pin and seated in a recess adjacent to the saidpin.

10. The combination, with a bayonet provided with a slip oint, of aspring forming one of the bearing surfaces of the said joint, and meansfor detachably securing the spring in its place in the joint, consistingof a pin having an annular recess forming a seat for one side of thespring, the latter being bent partway around the pin in the said recess,and being seated in a recess also partly surrounding the said pin,whereby the pin secures the spring, and the spring by means of itsannular seat in the pin holds the latter against unintentionaldislodgment.

11. A bayonet, and means for securing it to a firearm, comprising a knobappurte nant to the firearm, a seat in the pommel of the bayonetforreceiving the knob, and a spring appurtenant to the pommel of thebayonet and bearing against the head of the knob to take up loosenessand wear.

12. A bayonet and a firearm, and means including a slip joint forremovably attach ing them together, and means for taking up thelooseness and wear of the joint, comprising a spring having a cuppedportion forming one of the surfaces of the joint.

13. The combination, with a bayonet, and

firearm, of a self alining joint for attaching them together, consistingof a member appurtenant to the bayonet provided with an aperture forreceiving the coengaging member of the firearm, the said aperture beingrecessed to receive a spring, and a spring seated in said recess andresiliently bearing against the said coengaging member of the firearm.

14. Means for attaching a bayonet to a firearm, comprising a memberappurtenant to the bayonet provided with an aperture for receiving anattaching member of the firearm, an annular recess in the said aperture,and a curved spring seated in said annular recess, and resilientlybearing against the said attaching member of the firearm.

15. Means for attaching a bayonet to a firearm, comprising a memberappurtenant to the bayonet provided with an aperture for receiving anattaching member of the firearm, an annular recess in the said aperture,and a curved spring seated in said annular recess provided with a raisedsurface bearing against the said attaching member.

16. Means for attaching a bayonet to a firearm, comprising a memberappurtenant to the bayonet provided with an aperture for receiving thebarrel of the firearm, an annular recess in the said aperture, and aring-like spring seated in said recess and bearing against the barrel.

17. Means for attaching a bayonet to a firearm, comprising a memberappurtenant to the bayonet provided with an aperture for receiving thebarrel of the firearm, an annular recess in the said aperture, and aring-like spring seated in said recess and bearing against the barrel,the spring being provided with a rounded crimp bearing against thebarrel.

18. The combination in a bayonet and firearm, of self-adjusting jointsfor removably but firmly attaching them together, consisting of a knob,and a slotted recess for attaching the pommel of the bayonet to thefirearm, and of an aperture in the cross piece of the bayonet forreceiving the barrel of the firearm, the said aperture being providedwith an annular recess, and with a ring-like spring seated in saidrecess and bearing against the barrel.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM O. BARNES.

Witnesses FRED B. PAULIN, WV. A. FELLOWS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

